“We’ve been a little bit lazy over the last couple of decades,” President Obama said. “We’ve kind of taken for granted — ‘Well, people would want to come here’ — and we aren’t out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new businesses into America.”

“The American people are not lazy, Mr. President – but this White House has been lazy and soft, unable to do anything to turn the economy around,” said Gail Gitcho, Romney’s communications director.

It’s not the first time the president has accused Americans of being lazy.

– In October, he told donors in San Francisco that “we’ve lost our ambition, and our willingness to do the things that built the Golden Gate Bridge and Hoover Dam and unleashed all the potential in this country.” That story was reported by Bloomberg.

– In a September USA Today article, Obama said, “This is a great, great country that has gotten a little soft and we didn’t have the same competitive edge that we needed over the last couple of decades.”